Techie explains why JEE still ‘haunts' him after 10 years: 'We middle-class kids ...'

Time of India

7 hours ago

Are techies and engineering aspirants a bit too obsessed with cracking JEE and other
engineering entrance exams
? A tech professional recently made an emotional post on why engineering hopefuls are so 'fixated' with JEE ranks. Reacting to a post that took a dig at engineers who are still hung up about not making it to an IIT/premier engineering institution, a techie wrote on X that not being able to crack the JEE still 'haunts' him after 10 years.
He explained that for middle-class kids, there are very few options for social mobility and transcending their roots. IIT is one of the few institutions that practically guarantee high-paying jobs for its alumni. He also revealed many of his family members, except for his mother, did not talk to him when he did not get into an IIT. However, he refused to blame them.
— kingofknowwhere (@kingofknowwhere)
'Not their mistake. They sacrificed everything for me. Expectations are imminent…,' he wrote.
He revealed what lengths parents go to to afford coaching classes, many of which charge exorbitant fees. 'I know 25-30 people who sold their ancestral lands for IIT coaching in my city…' he said.
He explained how the exam presents an entirely different experience depending on one's economic background. For those from affluent or upper-middle-class families, JEE is merely an academic hurdle. But for students from poor or lower-middle-class backgrounds, it's a brutal and dehumanizing journey.
These young aspirants often leave their homes as early as sixteen to relocate to overcrowded and unsanitary hostels, often described as being barely livable even for the healthiest individuals. These cramped spaces are not just physically taxing but mentally draining, offering little to no comfort. In many cases, they rely on used textbooks purchased from roadside stalls, waiting patiently for someone to bring in a cheaper copy they can afford. Their meals are often of such poor quality that they could be considered inedible, yet they have no other option.
Over time, these students begin to lose touch with their families and friends, isolating themselves completely from the outside world. Their lives become centered solely around studying, with the weight of enormous expectations pressing down on them daily. It's a solitary existence, one that strips them of joy and connection, pushing them into a state of emotional numbness.
The techie admitted that this cycle plays out so regularly in his surroundings that he has become almost desensitized to its harshness. Each year, he watches the same heartbreaking scenes unfold within his own neighborhood. Tragedies, including the loss of young lives due to the pressure and despair tied to these exams, no longer shock him—and that emotional detachment, he noted, feels disturbingly unnatural.
He pointed out how many of his neighbors run paying guest accommodations specifically for
IIT aspirants
. These establishments are often likened to barns, where students are packed in and given just enough food to survive while the owners profit and move into much larger, more comfortable homes elsewhere. The students, meanwhile, are left in suffocating environments, treated more like livestock than human beings.